Black Mirror

Black Mirror is a Netflix series that numerous people within the past year have raved to me about. The first time that I heard about it was from a coworker last fall. He had been discussing the program with a magnificent excitement, describing it as something that would “freak you out” and make you think deeply about what you see and how it compares to today’s society. It seemed interesting enough, but I just never got around to watching it on my own.

I have found that the best way to describe Black Mirror to those who haven’t yet seen it, is to compare it to the Twilight Zone. The show is a modern collection of science fiction tales, depicting possible realities mainly involving technology and how it could possibly affect the way we communicate with each other and the environment.

For this blog post, I viewed two episodes of the show - one coming from the end of season 1, and one from the beginning of season 3. The episode from season 3 told the story of a man who travels to Europe for a vacation from the stress of his life. He frequently ignores calls from his mother as he leaves the country. While in Europe, he runs out of money and decides to participate in the testing of a new gaming software for compensation. The episode from season one presented the story of a couple whose marriage is collapsing due to fears of cheating. Evidence is presented in an interesting way because many people in that world have chips in the sides of their heads that record all of their memories and stores them to be reviewed on demand at a later date. Both episodes were phenomenally well done because of three main contributing factors.

The first thing I would like to address is the acting. The quality of acting in shows and movies is such an imperative aspect of production. Great acting is at the core of quality pieces of cinema, and without it, there’s hardly any point in fantastical graphics or master editing. There’s so many occasions where I’ll sit down to watch a movie and the acting is so bad, I feel meta. In my opinion, a great viewing experience is characterised by moving you from the real world and placing you into the world that you’re viewing. Black Mirror is one of those shows that creates an undeniably convincing and immersive experience through the skill of the actors.

That being said, the acting alone is not all of what makes the show exceptional. The graphics used within the show makes the show leap off of the screen, engulfing the viewer in what is being shown. The graphics are a complement to the acting, not a main selling point. There’s a broad, dramatic range of light used throughout the episodes that works with the overall tone of the show. Some shows and movies adopt a certain hue that filters each scene. For example, in the movie production of Twilight (2008), each scene appeared to be tinted dark green. While many scenes in black mirror have a dark color scheme, there is not a particular hue present in each scene.

The final factor that contributes to the quality of the program is the use of computer technology that we have today to depict non-existent technology. The various gizmos and gadgets illustrated in the show are so realistic and make the show even more believable because they are not much more advanced than the machinery that we have today.

I would recommend Black Mirror to anyone who is a fan of the Twilight Zone, Ripley’s Believe it or Not or even people who were once fans of R.L Stine or Anthony Horowitz. Like me. I was once a fan of R.L Stine and Anthony Horowitz. I would also recommend the show to anyone who is paranoid that smartphones will one day control our lives and destroy the universe.